With Braves Spring Training underway, there aren’t too many new faces for fans to learn, but there is one notable big name to familiarize yourself with — Jurickson Profar.
The former top prospect is coming off the best season of his career and inked a three-year, $42 million deal to join Atlanta. It wasn’t exactly the M.O. of Alex Anthopoulos, buying high on an asset.
He’s usually looking for the buy-low candidates that have the potential for huge returns, but the Braves clearly feel Profar’s 2024 campaign is sustainable. The advanced analytics back it up too.
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- xBA — 92nd percentile
- xSLG — 72nd percentile
- AVG Exit Velocity — 80th percentile
- Hard Hit % — 71st percentile
- Chase % — 90th percentile
- Whiff % — 90th percentile
- K % — 88th percentile
- BB % — 89th percentile
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The Braves will need him to be that version of himself because Ronald Acuna Jr. will miss a couple months of the season while recovering from his ACL injury, but where exactly does Jurickson Profar fit in Atlanta’s lineup?
Brian Snitker said that Profar gives him a lot of flexibility, able to hit in many different spots in the order, including leadoff until Acuna returns, according to Justin Toscano. Actually, Profar’s best splits came when batting leadoff last season.
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- Batting 1st: .380/.451/.620, 4 home runs, 1.071 OPS in 19 games
- Batting 2nd: .216/.326/.416, 10 home runs, .742 OPS in 51 games
- Batting 3rd: .304/.406/.440, 5 home runs, .846 OPS in 51 games
- Batting 4th: .273/.346/.409, 1 home run, .755 OPS in 6 games
- Batting 5th: .295/.394/.475, 3 home runs, .870 OPS in 19 games
- Batting 6th: .278/.395/.472, 1 home run, .868 OPS in 12 games
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Of course, 19 games isn’t a huge sample size, but there’s no question Jurickson Profar is comfortable setting the table for the rest of the Braves sluggers until Acuña returns.
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Photographer: Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire
